


Homecoming

by BadLuckBlueEyes



Series: Snapshots 'Verse [7]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cameras, Canon Disabled Character, Gen, Jack is a good dad, Other, Photos, adapting to blindness, give him credit he's trying, matt's justifiably grumpy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 18:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4574964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadLuckBlueEyes/pseuds/BadLuckBlueEyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part seven of Snapshots, in which Matt comes home from the hospital and he and Jack try to work things out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

When Matt came home, Jack tiptoed around him for longer than he should have. He had cleaned the apartment, making sure that there was nothing that Matt could possibly trip over. He had done his best to make sure he could help Matt with everything the doctor had talked to them about. 

With all that in mind, there was no reason for Jack to be more nervous than Matt when they both left the hospital. Matt was the one clutching at the cane he barely knew how to use and wearing the dark sunglasses Jack had found for him. 

They were both quiet when they got back to the apartment while Jack focused on making sure Matt was comfortable. Matt sat on the couch, nudging off his shoes and pulling his knees into his chest and making himself small. Jack went into the kitchen, looking through all the pamphlets he had collected from the doctor and nurses. 

There was so much they had to do. The last pamphlet was for some kind of private school, some place that promised to help Matt transition into blindness. Jack’s mouth went dry and he flipped through it, stopping short at the price. It was steep, but if it would help Matt… 

“Matty?” Jack walked toward the living room, the pamphlet clutched in his hand. 

“Yeah dad?” Matt turned in Jack’s direction, listening. 

“The doctor gave me a bunch of pamphlets…” he started, trailing off when Matt turned away, making himself somehow smaller. 

“What do they say?” 

“There’s one for this school. Some, uh, school for people who are going blind or something but it’s supposed to help-” Matt cut him off, furious. 

“You’re sending me away?” There was an edge of terror to his rage and that reminded Jack of himself in the recent weeks. 

“No, no. I was going to ask if you wanted to go, if you thought-” he paused, clearing his throat. “If you thought it might help.” 

“So you were going to send me somewhere I’ve never been when I don’t even know where I am now?” The remnants of panic were gone, replaced by more fury. “Dad, how could you?” 

“I wasn’t going to!” Jack retorted, angry. “I only suggested it because I thought you might want to go somewhere where people knew what they were doing.” 

“I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to stay right here.” Matt reached out, looking for Jack. He stepped forward, sitting on the couch next to him. Matt curled up against him, something he hadn’t done in years. Jack wrapped an arm around him. “Please don’t send me anywhere.” he whispered. Jack sighed. 

“We couldn’t afford it anyway. We’ll figure it out here.” Matt nodded into Jack’s side. 

“It’s not about how you hit the mat.” he murmured. The corner of Jack’s mouth tilted up. 

“It’s how you get back up.” he finished, nodding. “Alright, Matty. We’ll get everything the doctor told us about here and get you back on track.” His gaze landed on the camera set on the table in front of them and Jack wanted a picture. He reached forward, grabbing it, holding the camera in his hands. 

“Just take the stupid picture.” Matt said suddenly. “I know you have the camera.” 

“How? I-” Jack spluttered. He had picked up the camera silently, the only noise it had made was the quiet click when he turned it on. He shook his head and held the camera out, turning it so that they would both be in the picture. He took it and turned the camera off, setting it back on the table. 

“Hungry?” Matt nodded next to him. 

“Starving.” 

*** 

Matt adapted quicker than either of them expected, but Jack wasn't surprised. Matt was a kid, kids always bounced back from tragedy quicker than adults. Jack was surprised at how well Matt was able to tell what was around him. Even when Jack left things out and forgot to put them away, he just knew. Jack figured his son had great hearing or something. 

The downside to that was when Matt somehow _always_ knew if Jack had the camera in his hands. It wasn't long until Matt wasn’t afraid to call out his dad on it. It finally came to a head a week later in the kitchen. 

“Why are you about to take a picture?” Matt asked, pushing the braille book he had been practicing reading and leaning back. “You could at least warn me.” 

“You always know anyway, I don’t see why I need to warn you.” Jack replied, lowering the camera. 

“You could be polite and tell me anyway, I don’t know where you are.” he crossed his arms and frowned. “Why are you still taking pictures anyway? I thought we were over with it.” 

“Why would I be done?” Jack asked, putting the camera down and going closer to Matt, gently letting him know where he was. 

“We talked about it in the hospital.” Matt pointed out. 

“Yeah, I said we’d figure it out.” 

“I thought figuring it out meant stopping.” 

“It never meant stopping.” Jack frowned. 

“But you’re taking pictures of me being blind. It’s weird.” 

“You don’t like it?” 

“Why would I like it?” Matt stood angrily. “You’re taking pictures I’m not going to see and I’m in them and it’s _wrong_.” he pushed by Jack and stormed into the living room. 

“Matty-” Jack followed. 

“Dad. Enough. I’m here now and you can’t take any more pictures if I’m not going to see them. It’s mean. And you’re taking more now than you ever have and it hurts.” 

Jack sank to the couch and put his head in his hands. 

“Shit, Matty.” he groaned. “I’m sorry.” Matt didn’t respond other than to sit on the other end of the couch. 

“I didn’t think you were even going to come home.” Matt turned to face him. 

“Why wouldn’t I come home?” 

“The doctors scared me, they thought… There was a few minutes when they thought the chemicals gave you brain damage.” Jack admitted. 

“So?” If Matt knew where Jack was going, he didn’t act like it. 

“So? So?” Jack shouted, and Matt flinched. He immediately regretted shouting. “So, they weren’t sure if you were going to wake up or be you if you did.” 

“Oh.” 

“I thought you might be gone.” No more pictures ever, not if his son wasn’t there with him. 

“You need the pictures.” It was Jack’s turn to be confused. 

“What?” 

“You need them. To remind yourself that I’m here.” 

“Oh. Yeah, I guess that explains it.” Jack stood, going into the kitchen to look for the small bottle of whiskey in one of the cupboards. Matt followed, finding Jack and hugging him tightly, mumbling an apology. Jack forgot the whiskey and turned to hug Matt back. 

“Just let me know if you’re taking a stupid picture.” he said after a few minutes, silently giving Jack his permission to keep taking pictures. Jack nodded. 

“Yeah, yeah I can do that.” 

*** 

They ended up figuring out how to enjoy the pictures. When Matt mastered braille (way quicker than Jack was expecting), they went out and found a label maker. They spent hours of their spare time going through every single photo in the albums and fixing them. Matt made labels and put them on the back of each photo in the corner, so they they both knew what was in the photo. 

Jack teased Matt about it, saying that he’d still know which photos to not show a future girlfriend based on the descriptions. Matt sighed and shook his head, carefully spelling out each label. 

The project ended up being more expensive than Jack would have liked, and he had a feeling that Matt knew it. He entered a few more fights, trying to earn more money. 

When Sweeney came to him, offering more money than he had ever made in a fight on the condition that he threw it, Jack accepted. It was only to make sure he could pay the rent on time, he told himself. 

The fights got bigger and Jack was making decent money from them. After every single fight, Jack came home and told Matt the exact same thing, to not become a fighter, to study harder. To be better than Jack ever could be. Matt always nodded and went back to his studying, and for a while, Jack was proud. 

Then Sweeney offered him the fight with Creel.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to J for the beta read, hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
